Most of us growing up heard the quip, "Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never harm me." While this may be true in some cases, words can hurt, stymie, thwart, and destroy the reputations and lives of individuals ... and groups.
Looking at how to survive an attack of words a while back, I found four items related to Dorothy Parker. Ms. Parker was a controversial, oft-maligned, and inciteful writer, blacklisted in the McCarthy Era, alternately (and sometimes concurrently) feted and shunned by Hollywood and the press. If you are in a similar circumstance, I commend them to you:
In 1988, the NAACP claimed Parker's remains and designed a memorial garden for them outside their Baltimore headquarters. The plaque reads,
" Here lie the ashes of Dorothy Parker (1893-1967) humorist, writer, critic. Defender of human and civil rights. For her epitaph she suggested, 'Excuse my dust'. This memorial garden is dedicated to her noble spirit which celebrated the oneness of humankind and to the bonds of everlasting friendship between black and Jewish people." Dedicated by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. October 28, 1988.
There's a hell of a distance between wise-cracking and wit. Wit has truth in it; wise-cracking is simply calisthenics with words. -- from an interview with the Paris Review (Summer 1956)
It's not the tragedies that kill us; it's the messes. -- from an interview with the Paris Review (Summer 1956)
"I don't care what is written about me, so long as it isn't true." -- Dorothy Parker
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Comments: 8
She was the only person that I'm aware of that stood on the first amendment of the constitution in the McCarthy hearings in congress.
Sorry you got "word-attacked." At least you got something positive out of the experience--this information and an article.